He walked around the temple inside and out, even guiding Chuyi along with him, but as expected, they found nothing.
However, when Chen Yan returned to the courtyard and stood in front of the meditation room, he suddenly felt a stirring inside. He took a few steps up the stairs, then raised his phone’s flashlight and shone it onto the ground in the courtyard.
After a day of snowfall, the ground in the courtyard was already covered in white!
Especially around the meditation room, the ground was covered in a layer of snow.
After looking around, Chen Yan’s mind became clear!
There was a problem with the footprints!
The footprints in the snow, upon careful inspection, all belonged to places he and Chuyi had walked earlier!
And around the meditation room, there was only a circle of footprints—those left by Chuyi when he discovered the old monk had gone missing and searched around the meditation room!
There were no other footprints!
So, a living person, whether they walked away on their own or were taken away by someone or something...
In the snow, they didn’t leave any footprints?
Chen Yan frowned, turning to look at Chuyi, who seemed at a loss. He thought for a moment: "Don’t rush, let’s check the back forest."
"Okay!" Chuyi had no other ideas; he listened to whatever Chen Yan said, hurriedly nodding and running towards the forest.
The two entered the forest, the ground was also covered with snow, making their journey very difficult. After running for a few minutes, Chen Yan used the Qi Observation Skill and indeed found faint traces of demonic qi in the forest, which was slowly dissipating.
Chen Yan’s eyes lit up. He held a spell with one hand, prepared his finger sword, and took out Gu Qingyi’s "Sword in the Mother’s Hand" talisman from his pocket, striding towards where the demonic qi was dissipating.
Behind him, Chuyi ran frantically, looking a bit frantic but still keeping up closely. Until they crossed a small hill, the demonic qi suddenly dissipated completely, leaving no trace!
Chen Yan stopped, squinted his eyes, and carefully observed before sighing lightly.
This mountain is neither too big nor too small. It’s impossible to search thoroughly with just him and Chuyi in the middle of the night.
The faint demonic qi earlier wasn’t very strong, probably because he arrived late and most of it had already dissipated. Wandering aimlessly in the mountains in the middle of the night isn’t a good idea.
"Let’s go back first." Chen Yan shook his head and said to Chuyi, "We need to go back and think of a plan."
"Are we not going to search for my master?" Chuyi looked at Chen Yan helplessly.
"We will search! But it’s the middle of the night; just the two of us running around aimlessly in the mountain isn’t the way! Do you understand?" Chen Yan shook his head, patting Chuyi’s shoulder: "Let’s go back and discuss the plan."
After walking in the forest for so long, the snow had soaked through their shoes, and their faces felt freezing cold—Chen Yan was fine, but Chuyi’s face had turned pale from the cold.
The two retraced their steps, taking nearly twenty minutes to walk back to the rear gate of the wild temple.
As soon as they entered through the rear gate, Chen Yan suddenly stopped!
Looking around, he noticed that the temple courtyard, which should have been pitch black, was bathed in dim yellow light! The old monk’s meditation room had its light on!
Chen Yan took a deep breath... He distinctly remembered turning off the light when they left!
And by the light, he could faintly see a human silhouette on the window of the meditation room. There seemed to be someone inside, coughing softly, the sound carried by the wind.
Before Chen Yan could say anything, as soon as Chuyi heard the coughing, he exclaimed, "Master!"
Without waiting for Chen Yan’s reaction, he shouted and ran towards the meditation room...
Chen Yan couldn’t catch him in time, watching as Chuyi rushed into the meditation room. Squinting his eyes, Chen Yan held the talisman paper in his pocket and followed.
At the door of the meditation room, Chen Yan looked inside coldly. The room had the old monk leaning against the edge of the bed, his wax-yellow face full of wrinkles, hidden in the shadow of the lamplight, making it hard to see clearly. He seemed weak, his body slumped by the bed, his arm feebly hanging over the side.
Chuyi sat by the bed holding the old monk’s hand, shivering as if unable to speak.
Standing outside the door, Chen Yan first used the Qi Observation Skill, finding no anomalies on the old monk, then he pondered and walked inside.
"Chuyi, where did you go? Why aren’t you staying in the temple?" The old monk sighed and shook his head.
Chuyi foolishly opened his mouth, unable to speak, but Chen Yan strode forward, loudly saying: "He woke up in the middle of the night and found you missing. He searched the temple but couldn’t find you, so he went down to the village for help.
I was dragged here, and we just roamed the forest behind the temple for a long time, all to search for you."
Chen Yan squinted at the old monk: "Master, where did you go in the middle of the night?"
The old monk’s wax-yellow face hidden in the shadow lifted his head, his murky eyes looked over, recognizing Chen Yan with some confusion, and asked, "You... you are..."
"I’m Xiaoyan, from Mrs. Huang’s family in the village." Chen Yan smiled: "You came to my house for the ceremony when my grandma passed away the other day—don’t you remember me?"
"Mrs. Huang’s family..." the old monk pondered, then nodded weakly: "I remember, yes, I remember you... you used to steal oranges from my yard when you were a child."